produce the kinds of furniture

Wood workers have been joining together for thousands of years oak a long, long time before there was high tech machinery and acting almost glues, so traditional wood workers had to use what they could to join two bits of wood together to make furniture, this was mainly the wood its self.

Over hundreds of years wood workers perfected there joining methods and passed their skills on to the next generation of wood workers on so until we reached the industrial revolution, suddenly we could get a machine to the jobs which they had been doing for generations with the increases in technology over the last hundred years we still are now able to mass produce furniture in large factories but some traditional joining methods have been preserved.

As you will appreciate it is now not only faster to mass produce furniture in factories but also much cheaper, if you take a close look at most mass produced items of furniture you will see the way in which different part are joined together a few examples of these types of joints are outlined below.

Butt joints -

A simple joint where two parts of furniture are cut and pushed together, then either screwed, nailed or dowel reinforced to hold them in place.

Knock-down Fasteners -

These are very common in flat pack furniture and then give the name to KD furniture eg KD (knock down or flat pack) and are very good that in the item of furniture can be knocked down and rebuilt over and over again, which is great for furniture that needs to be moved on a regular basis.

As you look at the above joining methods you will understand why there are done - they are easy to do, they can be done cheaply, the furniture can be shipped easier because of its knock-down design and it can be assembled by people in their own homes (providing they have the instructions!)

The more traditional methods of wood working joints can still be found all over the world and even in factories which are mass producing furniture these methods just take a lot more skill and time to perform, so some machines are now available to help perfect these wood workers skills. Please see the section below on different types of traditional joints.

The Dovetail -

Probably the most famous of all wood working joints, this joining method has been around for many years and is widely used in cabinet making, there are a number of variations of the dovetail joint the name comes from the shape of the joint (similar to the tail of a dove), this joint can be used in various parts of furniture but is mainly used to join two bits of wood at right angles.
The wood is cut either by hand or machine one part is the tail and the other the pin they must be cut very well they fit perfectly together to Ensure meaning no glue has to be used (although glue can be used in addition to the dovetail) . One of the most common places to use this joint is on drawers or on some modern furniture design you may see the joint on the front of cabinets as part of the.

Bridle joint -

Again this joint has been used for many years is quite simple and one part of the wood is cut to accommodate the other, a grove is cut into one part and the other simply cut to slid in making a good joint which can then be held in position with either glue or screws nails.

Mortise and tenon joint The -

This method dates back thousands of years and is used around the world, this joint is similar to the bridle but as opposed to a grove a glue is made in one part of the wood and the other part is Cut So as it may slide inside the making a great hole, tidy joint, again this can then be held in place with a number of methods including, pins, nails, glue, screws and wedges.

Tongue and grove joints -

Tongue and grove joints are widely used in a flooring paneling, the paneling can be used in furniture production mainly Sun as many parts of wood can be joined together, the method is easy most of the time one side of the board will have a grove and the other a tongue so they can slide together.

There are many more different types of joining methods in wood work and cabinet making, too many to talk about in this article but I hope this help you to understand the basics, so next time you look at some furniture take a second look and see how it has been joined together.

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